E-Paper
Delhi govt schools to distribute books among students till class 8
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
As transport facilities are being relaxed across Delhi, the Directorate of Education has asked government schools to prepare a schedule for distribution of books for students from classes 1 to 8.
Under Right to Education Act, which mandates providing free elementary education to children up to class 8, students are entitled to receive books and reimbursement for uniform and stationery from schools.
Following the closure of educational institutions in Delhi since March 16 to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, thousands of students were locked inside their homes without course textbooks even as the new academic session began in April. While the government used means such as WhatsApp and text messages to send daily learning activities to students, lack of textbooks at home slowed down the learning process.
“A proper schedule for distribution of books is to be prepared at the school level so that books that have been received by the schools till now are distributed immediately and the remaining books may be distributed after they are received by the school,” the Directorate of Education wrote to the government schools on Tuesday.
The education department recommended calling parents to the schools in separate time slots for different classes while maintaining social distancing measures and mandatory sanitation guidelines. Parents will be asked to sanitise their hands before entering the premises and a staff member with a sanitiser will be deputed at the gate for the same. Not more than 10 parents should be allowed to enter a classroom at any given point of time.
“Along with books, sanitary napkins (available stock in the school) may be distributed to the eligible girl students,” the circular stated. Under the central government’s Kishori Shakti Yojna scheme, female government school students of classes 6 to 12 are given sanitary napkin packets every month. More than 8 lakh girls benefit from the scheme in Delhi government schools every month.
With schools functioning as food distribution, dry ration, and migrant screening centres, overcrowding becomes a major challenge. Shaheed Hemu Kalani Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Lajpat Nagar, which serves as all three centres, is set to begin the book distribution on Friday. Principal Bijesh Kumar Sharma said parents had been informed of the timings through text messages and WhatsApp.
“While we have kept separate wings of school for screening and hunger relief centres, managing the crowds remains an issue. Inside the school we have volunteers and teachers to ensure social distancing, but outside the gates it becomes an issue,” he said, adding schools with smaller spaces may have to take extra caution in this regard. “Besides, many of our teachers are concerned over the positive Covid-19 cases among frontline workers. While we are taking all precautions and sanitation measures, the concern is still there,” he said.
A senior education department official said the reimbursement for books class 9 and 11 students will be processed soon. “Due to the delay in results for classes 9-12, the process was kept on hold. Since we have declared the results for class 9 and 11, the reimbursement will be transferred to their bank accounts soon.”
“We are keeping a tab on who are collecting the books. A parent, who is currently in Bihar, called me today. So we made some provisions for a relative to collect it. We want to ensure students have that assurance that they have their books with them to study. This is in addition to the NCERT e-books they have on their phones,” said Rakesh Semalty, principal of Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya in Nand Nagri.
